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Sunday, February 28, 2016

Haste Makes Mistakes: Charlotte Mason's Habit Training

In my efforts to lean more toward a Charlotte Mason lifestyle {I hesitate to use "Charlotte Mason homeschool", because CM is so much more than just school-it is a way of life}, I am beginning what Charlotte called habit training. The definition is pretty self-explanatory, but in a nutshell - your child's character is more important than their academics.

Charlotte Mason suggests working on one habit at a time, and I fully agree. If I start insisting my children learn ten different habits at once, they will be overwhelmed, and so will I!

We were reading in Proverbs 19 last night, and I read this verse aloud:

I explained the importance of taking the time to do our best work, without working so slowly that we can't get anything done. Some of my children have developed the bad habit of completing their work hastily, thus making many mistakes. Therefore, this is the first habit we are working on: perfect execution and thoroughness.

Here are the specific things we will be training:

making sure our work is done correctly the first time

taking our time to spell words correctly

making sure the correct words are capitalized

using correct punctuation

not rushing through our notebook pages

coloring our maps neatly

labeling our maps neatly

using sharp pencils and colored pencils

double-checking that our math equations are written correctly before solving them

checking {and correcting} our answers immediately

listening to directions carefully

slowing down!

We will work on this habit for around 3 weeks, or until we have all developed it perfectly.

3 comments:

Might I recommend Laying Down the Rails by Simply Charlotte Mason. Your post reminded me to put it on our next year's curriculum list. I've missed using it and nearly forgot about it with moving around due to my health.